Eggnog in Our Veins - A Holiday Luv Thread

Since I love the holidays and don't want to annoy my thread (the lovely, long-suffering ladies of the Royalty Thread) too much with all my glassy-eyed maunderings during the holidays - not that they mind - I'd like to invite all of you wonderful Misc. Club members to stop in, have a cup of mulled wine/cider, and chat with me about anything holiday-related.

Let's talk about what we love, our frustrations during the holidays, our most-beloved and diverse traditions (remember, this is a holiday thread. If you celebrate Kwanzaa, I want to hear about it!) and whatever else is on your mind.

I've long wanted to meet people from other threads, and this is my big chance! Let's lean on each other this season and challenge each other to live it to the fullest - making a sincere effort to live healthfully in soul and body.

Dearest Cerise, you're right. No one minds your holiday happytalk. But I too love the Season (and for me, it's Christmas). Since I'm not going to Florida for the winter this year, I'm enjoying it more than I have for several years. I did do some decorating yesterday despite having a case of physical blahs that seems to have passed this a.m. Not much yet and won't be overdoing but today or tomorrow expect to finish up all but the tree. That will likely be done during the week sometime. I've decided my little angel "collection" has outgrown the mantle in the family room so I'm moving it to my pink & blue living room. I'm such a traditionalist that this is a major change

Also bought a few more gifts yesterday. DH is into it now and he's a big help w/gift choices for DS&DSIL. I also have some wrapped. I am (dare I say it?) ahead of where I usually am. Meeting friends for lunch today before they go to FL so it's sort of our Christmas w/them.

So sing on - I want to hear those carols all the way from the west coast.

Sounds like fun, Cerise! Hey, I love 'em all---Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hannukah, Solstice, Yule, even New Year's----It's all good. The paradox of this time of the year is that even when we're in the dark deep cold of winter the days really are getting longer!

As for staying healthy this season, I've committed to doing Pilates every day this month, even if it's only for 10 minutes. And if I don't overindulge this holiday I'll have the joy of being focused and aware instead of wandering around in a sugar plum haze.

And as always, I'm interested in any tricks you've come up with to keep a healthy head about you during this treat-laden season!

Hi neighbors! Saw you out here decorating and thought I'd pop over with a cup of grog!

I have a hard time getting into the holiday spirit -- although I love it once I do. Maybe I'll stop by here now and then for inspiration.

Do you folks ever decorate your own wreaths? I bought a beautiful plain one and some stuff to put on it, but only a few of the things are on those metal picks. Anyone know how to wire things to a wreath so they won't droop?

Ooh, wreaths. I love those things. Lessee, does it have a foam base or is it real boughs wired together? Foam base - anything with a stem should be OK to shove right in there, even without the spiky things. Real stuff wired together - I dunno, I'd lay they whatever-it-is along one of the stems and wire it down good. Either way, you can never use too much of that great floral wire, in my opinion. Hey, though, I think you can buy those spike things, too. It'd be worth it to call a craft store to find out.

Hi Kiwonk! How about this? Just straighten out a paper clip and use that to secure things to your wreath----bend it over into a U-shape over the whatever and poke it into the wreath. Of course I'm assuming that those things are pretty small....

Om shanti, holiday elves, truthfully, I don't like the winter holidays much, but there IS one thing I find good about them ... and that's the way they come just before A BRAND NEW YEAR ... and that year, to steal, er, borrow my fav thought from Anne of Green Gables, is one with no mistakes in it ... yet!

So I like that!

I also like that the winter holiday tradition is not just one of any certain religion or group but that humans from the dawn of time have probably sat huddled around warm fires with cups o' grog or nog (or something) and thought up stories to explain how they noticed that EVERY YEAR WITHOUT FAIL the year gets grey, cold and deadlike (even somewhat in Arizona, where I live) and that EVERY YEAR WITHOUT FAIL, it comes back to life again in the spring.

And what I like is realizing that, as long as they are alive, people can do that, too.

Also what I like is noticing that round about the 20th of December (at least in my climate zone), the LIGHT COMES BACK ... e.g., the days start to get imperceptibly longer ... and that's a metaphor for people, too ... the light can always come back.

Or, since this is a diet forum, THE WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM can always return as well.

What I like about contemplating the advent of 2005 is THAT THIS IS THE YEAR I WILL REACH MY GOAL OF 135 POUNDS.

Hey, thanks for the ideas!! The wreath is not on a foam form, but the boughs are attached to something -- must be one of those straw forms. I think paper clips might just do the trick. Oo, or maybe bobby pins. Anyway, thanks for getting those creative juices flowing; I think I can do this!

I love seeing the different lighted displays in yards and businesses.I really like the ones that are just lights...the branches and trees limbs outlined. No figures.I also love egg nog tarts....and they in turn love my hips. Sigh.
Ceara

OK, I'm OFFICIALLY done decorating inside EXCEPT FOR THE TREE which we'll do this weekend. I really enjoyed putting out stuff I've not had out in recent years because I could take my time and didn't have to worry about having to take it down in a hurry to clean it out before we leave for Florida. I might keep everything up until mid-January this year!

Takes me a long time to put things out because everything is old or a gift and I have to think about it all. But that's the way I like holidays - sentimental.

DH is downstairs testing out his outside lights. I don't care if he puts any out or not but must admit it looks so much better w/some. Some neighbors have just done spectacular jobs w/their lighting again this year. Like to come home after dark just to see them, esp. the nights they're all on.

Anagram, I feel the same way about the sentimentality of unpacking decorations, especially the holiday kind (though I have a couple of witch lanterns I pull out for Halloween that I'm very, very fond of). Ramon and I always trim the tree together - I unpack the ornaments (and he's very patient because I keep cooing over everything I unwrap) and lay them all on the couch and then we decorate. We've only been collecting ornaments for 6 years (how long we've been married), and we only buy one new one per year that we've both chosen, but we still manage to have enough ornaments to fill the tree.

I've been busy getting ready for this audition tonight, but after tonight I'll post many pictures of the tree. I can't wait for you to see it!

We had a lovely 58 degree day yesterday and DH put some lights outside. Colored ones on the two small evergreens by the front door and white ones on two azaleas to each side of those. Not a lot but better than none. He still wants to put up one of those light trees but needs something else (?) to do that. Some of our neighbors really go all out, esp. in the block leading upto our house. Most look great (a few overdone a tad but nothing really tacky). Neighborhood decorating contest is this weekend.

On the way to the pool I pass several yards that have been (over) decorated and lit up for about two weeks (it seems) before Thanksgiving. These are tacky but I guess they have fun w/them and I'm all for fun.